STOCKTON - A municipal ballot measure that targets Fire Department provisions of the City Charter is getting all the attention. But the City Council also placed two other initiatives on the Nov. 2 ballot.

Daniel Thigpen

STOCKTON - A municipal ballot measure that targets Fire Department provisions of the City Charter is getting all the attention. But the City Council also placed two other initiatives on the Nov. 2 ballot.

One would tax marijuana - both for medical purposes and, if voters approve it statewide, for recreational use. The other is a routine measure that, if passed, will allow Stockton to keep building publicly assisted low-income housing.

Here's a brief look at all three Stockton ballot measures.

» What it does: Authorizes Stockton to use affordable housing funds to build low-income residences without raising taxes, up to 500 units each year.

» Origins: The city can go to voters every 10 years for the authority. Voters last approved such a measure in 2000.

» Supporters: John Shores of Habitat for Humanity, Joan Richards of Campaign for Common Ground, developer Carol Ornelas of Visionary Home Builders.

» What it does: The initiative removes a City Charter requirement that labor disputes with the firefighters union go to a third-party arbitrator, whose decisions are final and can be enforced in court. It also eliminates a decades-old charter requirement that the fire chief be hired from within the department. And it repeals another charter section that allows firefighters to earn and use no less than 15 working days of vacation a year.

» Origins: The City Council put the measure on the ballot while in the middle of a protracted labor dispute with Stockton's firefighters union over its contract, which prohibits layoffs and company closures. Earlier this year, the city declared a fiscal emergency, later temporarily closing an engine company and suspending scheduled pay raises.

» Opponents: Stockton Professional Firefighters Local 456, United Way of San Joaquin County CEO Andy Prokop, former Mayor Gary Podesto, former Fire Chief Gary Gillis.

» Consequences: City officials say Measure H is a tool to give them more control over staffing and labor costs, terms of which are dictated in restrictive labor agreements. The union calls the initiative an attempt to lay off firefighters that will jeopardize public safety.

» What it does: Puts a 2.5 percent tax on sales at medical marijuana dispensaries and levies a 10 percent tax for all other marijuana businesses should California voters legalize marijuana for recreational use.

» Origins: The City Council adopted new regulations this past summer for medical marijuana dispensaries in the city. Leaders have said they want to capture new revenue if the businesses are going to exist.